Circular knitting machine and articles knitted thereby

ABSTRACT

A knit fabric has longitudinally extending warp yarns bound into the stitches of the knit fabric. A circular knitting machine includes a needle cylinder and a dial which carries an array of pairs of hooked members each of which pairs serves to bind in one longitudinal warp yarn.

United States Patent [191 Luchi [451 Sept. 3, 1974 1 CIRCULAR KNITTINGMACHINE AND ARTICLES KNITTED THEREBY [211 Appl. No.: 252,011

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 14, 1971 Italy 9514/71 [52]US. Cl. 66/9 R, 66/190, 66/13, A 66/17 [51] Int. Cl D04b 9/12 [58] Fieldof Search 66/7, 8, 9, l0, 13, 11, 66/17, 19, 31,133,190

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 226,595 4/1880 Chase 66/1921,742,255 l/1930 Jennings 66/135 X 1,874,198 8/1932 Larmour 66/7 Hill 1138 Welch et al 66/8 2,018,165 10/1935 Wildt et al .1 66/135 2,186,5061/1940 Towers 66/9 2,312,963 3/1943 Guyler et al. 66/8 2,637,988 5/1953Striar 66/135 3,621,677 11/1971 Marks et al 66/9 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 327,987 4/1930 Great Britain 66/135 168,686 3/1906 Germany66/190 477,703 7/1929 Germany 66/10 Primary ExaminerRonald FeldbaumAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Eric H. Waters 57 ABSTRACT A knit fabric haslongitudinally extending warp yarns bound into the stitches of the knitfabric. A circular knitting machine includes a needle cylinder and adial which carries an array of pairs of hooked members each of whichpairs serves to bind in one longitudinal warp yarn.

8 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 1974 I 3.832.867

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54 7V HI. 74 I CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE AND ARTICLES KNITTED THEREBYBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a knittingprocess, a knitting machine and to knitted articles produced by theprocess and the machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention in oneaspect there is provided a process of producing a knitted articlecomprising binding with a reciprocating motion alongitudinally-extending warp yarn into the loops of a longitudinal rowof stitches of a knit fabric.

Further according to the present invention there is provided a knittedarticle comprising a longitudinallyextending warp yarn bound into theloops of a longitudinal row of stitches of the knit fabric.

Still further according to the present invention there is provided in acircular knitting machine, a needle cylinder, needles mounted in thecylinder, a dial having a plurality of grooves corresponding to a numberof Iongitudinal warp yarns to be bound into a knit fabric, a pair ofhooked members slidable in each said groove, each said pair togetherdefining an eyelet for the passage of a corresponding needle of thecylinder, one of the members acting as a guide for a longitudinal warpyarn whilst the other of the members has a step therein serving toretain the longitudinal warp yarn and the hooked members beingresiliently separable to enable the transverse withdrawal of the membersfrom a me dle engaged in said eyelet, means, combined with the cylinderto supply the longitudinal warp yarn, and means to advance the twohooked members before the corresponding needle which is engaged in theeyelet is lifted and to cause the hooked members to retract before saidneedle has been lowered, said advancing means acting on the said twohooked members independently of adjacent hooked members.

The invention is particularly applicable to the production of doublefabrics having a transverse weft but can also be applied to a plainfabric without a transverse weft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

FIG. I is a partial sectional view of a needle cylinder of a circularknitting machine in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a stitch knitting zone of the needlecylinder showing the vertical needles of the cylinder and radial needlesof a dial operating with two yarns, the illustration omitting theformation of the longitudinal warp for the sake of clarity;

FIG. 3 is a section similar to that of FIG. 1 but the section is takenat a double warp hook for the vertical yarn;

FIG. 4 is a section similar to that of FIG. 3 but illustrates the doublewarp hook in another position;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of the needle cylinder and ofthe dial and is intended to illustrate the manner of formation of avertical warp;

FIG. 6 is an overall diametral section illustrating devices for settingup a vertical warp in accordance with the invention combined with themachine;

FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and 10 are respectively an enlarged front view, anenlarged section on the line VIIIVIII of FIG. 7, an enlarged front viewopposite that of FIG. 7 and an enlarged section on the line XX of FIG. 9to show the structue of a double-knitted fabric article having ahorizontal and vertical weft and warp; and

FIGS. 11 and 12 are enlarged front view of a structure of a knittedfabric with vertical warp corresponding to all the vertical rows ofstitches.

According to the drawings, the needle cylinder 1 has externallongitudinal grooves to accommodate vertical sliding of latch needles 3and the axis of the cylinder also extending vertically. An outer rim 5of the cylinder is secured by clamping members 7 to the cylinder 1 atthe upper portion thereof. Radial grooves in the cylinder and in the rimare provided for conventional sinkers 9 and these serve to engage thestitches and perform the knitting of the article in conjunction with theneedles 3 and by further needles to be described hereinafter. The dial12 is rotated synchronously with the cylinder 1, benath a fixedstructure 14 including control cams of the machine. The dial 12 isdriven by a hollow shaft 16 having a flange 16A which is of shallowfrustoconical form and has a periphery matching the internalconfiguration of the dial 12. The shaft 16 is journalled by bearings 18themselves mounted in a sleeve 20 supported by fixed structure 14 andalso-by a further fixed structure 22. Rotation of the cylinder 1 anddial I2 is effected by a horizontal shaft 24, and a pinion 26 meshingwith a ring gear 28 rigid with the shaft 16.

The needles 3 are lifted and lowered by outer cams. A lifting cam 30 isprovided for the needles 3 and a lowering cam 32 is provided forsubsequent lowering of the needles 3. A yam-guide 34 serves to feed ayarn M for conventional knitting by means of the verticallyreciprocableneedles 3. The lifting cams 30 can be operated conventionally butalternatively only a proportion of the needles 3 need be actuated.

The dial 12 has radial grooves equal in number to the longitudinalgrooves of the cylinder 1 for the needles 3, and each lies intermediatepairs of adjacent needles 3. The radial grooves accommodate radial,horizontal, latch needles 36. In FIG. 1 one needle 36 is shownprojecting beyond the periphery of the dial as a result of actuation bya high butt 36A, itself actuated by a cam profile 38 rigid with thestructure 14. A further cam is carried by the structure 14 and isintended to form a counter-cam control profile for the purposeshereinafter described. The cam 38 and 40 control the operation of theradial feed in the centrifugal direction and of the radial re-entry ofthe needles 36 in the centripetal direction to effect engagement withthe yarn and the clearing of a stitch. A yarn-guide 42 serves to feed abinding yarn L, which is intended to be fed to the horizontal needles36.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, an arrow f indicates the sense of rotation ofthe needle cylinder, the control of the projection of the horizontalneedles 36 and thus the return in the centripetal direction to engagethe yarn L, is provided in advance with respect to the control of theprojection of the vertical needles 3 and for their downward returnmotion for the engagement of the yarn M.

The arrangement is such that the yarn L is knitted by the needles 36,which are returning in the centripetal direction while the needles 3 arestill raised. and the needles 36 knit the stitches with the yarn Lengaging the loops of the yarn L against the raised needles 3. Onlyafter the knitting and clearing of the stitches by the horizontalneedles 36 as a result of their re-entry to the dial, are the needles 3lowered which engage the yarn M and knit therewith the stitch, clearingthe previous stitch.

A horizontal weft yarn T is fed rearwardly that is into the spaceenclosed by the array of needles 3 and beneath the array of needles 36.The yarn T0 is fed by a yarn-guide 44 arranged in advance with respectto the yarn-guides 42 and 34. The horizontal weft yarn T0 is caughtbetween stitches L1 and stitches Ml (FIG. and is thus prevented fromsliding longitudinally after knitting the article. The yarn TO partiallyemerges and thus is visible predominantly on the surface shown in FIG.9, when one uses a thin yarn L to knit the stitches Ll, whilst ispredominantly in the surface of the yarn M forming the stitches Ml asshown in FIG. 7. The horizontal weft yarn TO imposes resistance toyeilding in the direction of said weft. The horizontal weft yarn TO whencombined with a fabric wherein the yarn L forming the stitches L1 isthin, can be used to create a rear surface of different appearance fromthe front surface obtained with the stitches Ml of the yarn M. Moreover,horizontal patterns can be formed in the article by insertingsubsequently horizontal wefts T0 or groups of horizontal wefts TOdifferentiated as to colour and/or nature of yarn.

The above illustrated fabric is an example of a knitted fabric withwhich the longitudinal warp according to the invention can be combined,but this weft can be alternatively used with a conventional knittedfabric.

A warp array of unknitted yarn may be engaged in the knitted fabric in agenerally longitudinal sense, that is parallel to the needles of thecylinder. For this pur pose, instead of needles 36, pairs of membersdefining hooks for distributing a corresponding vertical warp yarn TV,are provided on the dial 12 in some of the radial grooves thereinprovided at appropriate angular spacings. These pairs of members includea first hook member 48 having an aperture 50 for the vertical warp yarnTV and deviating over a section 48A from the radial direction, thesection 48A being spaced from the end 488 and the hole 50 being includedbetween the end 488 and the section 48A. A second hook member 52,similar to member 48, forms each pair of hook members. and extendssubstantially rectilinearly with a radiussed end 52A to a sectionthereof extending beyond a step 52C. The arrangement of the pair ofmembers 48 and 52 is such that a needle 3 can pass into the eyeletformed by the end sections of the pair of members 48 and 52 arranged inone of the radial grooves of the dial 112 which is adjacent to theneedle under consideration. This eyelet corresponds to the needle whichis being raised as both needles 36 and, in substitution thereof, thepairs of hook members 48, 52 are advanced in the centrifugal directionin advance of the needles 3. In order to control the members 48 and 52forming the eyelets, the hook members 48 and 52 have butts 48C (see FIG. 4) which are advantageously larger and also lower than butts 36A, soas to be operated independently therefrom, with a larger and shallowerchannel profile than that provided for the butts 36A. The eyelet hooks48 and 52 are operated substantially in the same manner as the nedles 36of the dial, these butts 48C effectively controlling the centrifugalradial feed or advance of the eyelet hooks 48 and 52 so that the latterproject a shorter distance beyond the needles 36 (FIG. 3).

The vertical warp yarns TV are fed from bobbin holders which areconstrained to follow the motion of the dial 12. For this purpose, anadditional disc structure 54 is mounted above the structure 14 carryingthe earns 38, 40 coaxial with the shaft 16. This disk 54 has a centralaperture which is guided by sprocket wheels 56 which are carried by thefixed structure 14. The disk structure 54 is synchronously driven withthe needle cylinder 1 and with the dial l2, from the shaft 24 or fromthe shaft 16. A stub shaft 58, parallel to the axis of the shaft 16 andcarrying two gears or sprockets 60, 62 one meshing with an internallytoothed rim ll6B rigid with the frusto-conical flange 16A and the othermeshing with an internally toothed rim 54A of the disc structure 54, isprovided on the fixed structure 14. On the disc structure 54 severalsupports for bobbinholders 64, each of which can contain one or morethan one of the vertical weft yarns TV to be fed to a similar number ofeyelet hooks 48, 52.

Each vertical warp yarn TV, guided by yarn-guides 66, reaches the endsection of the corresponding hook 48 and passes from the outside of thepair of hooks 48, 52 through the aperture 50 which thus acts as ayarnguide. The yarn TV is also returned (FIG. 5) on the radiussed end52C of the hook 52 when the pair of members 48, 52 is advanced in thecentrifugal direction to bring the eyelet formed thereby into alignmentwith the needle 3, which when lifted must pass through and move abovethe hook. The yarn TV, with the advance of the pair of members 48, 52,is brought in front of the needle 3 that is externally of thecircumferential row of needles 3. When the needle 3 under considerationhas been lifted through and above the eyelet formed by the members 43,52, the latter substantially coincidentially with the needles 36, arereturned in the centripetal direction towards the dial 12, possiblywhilst the needle 3 is being lowered. The vertical warp yarn TVtherefore forms a loop TVl (see FIG. 4) in front of the needle 3 underconsideration. As shown in FIGS. 7 to it), the yarn TV forms a bindingTV2 on the side of the stitches Ml (FIG. 7) and instead formscorresponding elongate portions TV3 of the opposite side (see F IG. 9).

The verical warp yarns TV have the function of stiffening the knittedfabric in the longitudinal direction, the binding of said yarns notbeing true knitting, but a winding which tends to become elongated farless readily then looped knitting. An additional function of thevertical warp yarns is that of creating therewith a surface visible onone of the surfaces of the article more markedly than with the othersurface, and in this way the possibility of forming longitudinalpatterns in the article becomes apparent.

Although a longitudinal warp TV may be provided in any knit fabric, inpractice and advantageously, it is convenient that the article involvingvertical warp yarns, that is with a longitudinal yarn TV (formingbindings such as those denoted by TV2 and TV3) is an article involving asecondary knitted structure formed by the yarns L, setting up thestitches L1 as described, and also advantageously involving a horizontalweft TO, also as hereinbefore described.

When both vertical warps TV and horizontal weft T0 are provided, squarepatterns and/or Scotch patterns and/or Prince or Wales patterns can beproduced with an appropriate distribution of the weft yarns TO and ofthe warp yarns TV along the sliding circumference of the heads of theneedles. The patterns will obviously have a pitch, for repeating thehorizontal i.e. transverse patterns, dependent upon the number of thesimultaneous feeds.

The warp yarns TV and also the yarns TO may be of a nature such as toundergo a gauze operation, that is they may be relatively hairy and softyarns, this enabling a gauze-like surface to be produced on one or onthe other or on both surfaces of the fabric, and also to attain anappreciable fixing effect on the warp and weft yarns, in particular, onthe yarns TO.

When the article has additionally to the vertical warp yarns TVcorresponding to the spaced knitted rows, also knitting yarns L formingstitches L, the stitches Ll obviously cannot be formed in the positionswherein the needle 36 is missing, said needle being replaced by the pairof members 48 and 52. Therefore, the yarn L corresponding to thevertical warp TV (TV2, TV3) is provided with lengths of joining yarn L2between adjacent stitches Ll (FIGS. 7 to 10).

FIGS. 11 and 12 show a knitted fabric wherein vertical warp are providedcorresponding to all the rows of stitches, that is correspong to all theneedles of the cylinder.

In all the embodiments indicated the horizontal wefts TC can be providedor omitted as desired.

1 claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine,

a needle cylinder,

needles mounted in the cylinder,

a dial having a plurality of grooves corresponding to a number oflongitudinal warp yarns to be bound into a knit fabric,

a pair of hooked members slidable in each said groove, each said pairtogether defining an eyelet for the passage of a corresponding needle ofthe cylinder, one of the members acting as a guide for a longitudinalwarp yarn whilst the other of the members as a step therein serving toretain the longitudinal warp yarn and the hooked members beingresiliently separable to enable the transverse withdrawal of the membersfrom a needle engaged in said eyelet,

means, combined with the cylinder to supply the longitudinal warp yarn,and

means to advance the two hooked members before the corresponding needlewhich is engaged in the eyelet is lifted and to cause the hooked membersto retract before said needle has been lowered, said advancing meansacting on the said two hooked members independently of adjacent hookedmembers.

2. A machine according to claim 1, wherein said dial carries radiallymovable needles arrayed between the hooked members, said radiallymovable needles being arranged to knit a second yarn independent of theyarn supplied to the needles of the cylinder and being controlled bysaid advancing means.

3. A machine according to claim 1, wherein there is a pair of hookedmembers corresponding to each needle of the cylinder.

4. A machine according to claim 1, further comprismg means for feedingrearwardly of the cylinder needles a horizontal weft yarn, said meansacting to feed the horizontal yarn before the needles of the cylinderare raised.

5. A machine according to claim 1, further comprisa fixed structureabove the dial,

a disc member arranged above the fixed structure,

means for driving the needle cylinder, the dial and the disc membersychronously, and

a plurality of bobbin container mounted on the disc member.

6. A method of producing a knitted fabric, compris ing the steps of:knitting a yarn to form a main knit fabric with longitudinally extendingrows of stitches, each being associated with a transversely extendingcourse of stitches; feeding a longitudinally extending warp yarn alongeach vertically extending row of stitches, binding the base of eachstitch in each row by wrapping said warp yarn about same during theformation of the main knit fabric; feeding a transversely extending weftyarn along horizontal course of stitches; and engaging the weft yarnbetween the stitches of the course and the corresponding lengths of thewarp yarn.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, comprising the step of: feeding afurther binding yarn to form stitches of a second knit fabric, saidlast-mentioned stitches being interlaced with the stitches of said mainknit fabric and being arranged on the side opposite the main fabricstitches in respect of said weft yarns.

8. A method of producing a knitted fabric, comprising the steps of:knitting a yarn to form a main knit fabric with longitudinally extendingrows of stitches, each being associated with a transversely extendingcourse of stitches; feeding a longitudinally extending warp yarn alongeach vertical row of stitches, and binding the base of the stitch ineach row by wrapping said warp yarn about same during the formation ofthe main knit

1. In a circular knitting machine, a needle cylinder, needles mounted inthe cylinder, a dial having a plurality of grooves corresponding to anumber of longitudinal warp yarns to be bound into a knit fabric, a pairof hooked members slidable in each said groove, each said pair togetherdefining an eyelet for the passage of a corresponding needle of thecylinder, one of the members acting as a guide for a longitudinal warpyarn whilst the other of the members as a step therein serving to retainthe longitudinal warp yarn and the hooked members being resilientlyseparable to enable the transverse withdrawal of the members from aneedle engaged in said eyelet, means, combined with the cylinder tosupply the longitudinal warp yarn, and means to advance the two hookedmembers before the corresponding needle which is engaged in the eyeletis lifted and to cause the hooked members to retract before said needlehas been lowered, said advancing means acting on the said two hookedmembers independently of adjacent hooked members.
 2. A machine accordingto claim 1, wherein said dial carries radially movable needles arrayedbetween the hooked members, said radially movable needles being arrangedto knit a second yarn independent of the yarn supplied to the needles ofthe cylinder and being controlled by said advancing means.
 3. A machineaccording to claim 1, wherein there is a pair of hooked memberscorresponding to each needle of the cylinder.
 4. A machine according toclaim 1, further comprising means for feeding rearwardly of the cylinderneedles a horizontal weft yarn, said means acting to feed the horizontalyarn before the needles of the cylinder are raised.
 5. A machineaccording to claim 1, further comprising a fixed structure above thedial, a disc member arranged above the fixed structure, means fordriving the needle cylinder, the dial and the disc member sychronously,and a plurality of bobbin container mounted on the disc member.
 6. Amethod of producing a knitted fabric, comprising the steps of: knittinga yarn to form a main knit fabric with longitudinally extending rows ofstitches, each being associated with a transversely extending course ofstitches; feeding a longitudinally extending warp yarn along eachvertically extending row of stitches, binding the base of each stitch ineach row by wrapping said warp yarn about same during the formation ofthe main knit fabric; feeding a transversely extending weft yarn alonghorizontal course of stitches; and engaging the weft yarn between thestitches of the course and the corresponding lengths of the warp yarn.7. A method as claimed in claim 6, comprising the step of: feeding afurther binding yarn to form stitches of a second knit fabric, saidlast-mentioned stitches being interlaced with the stitches of said mainknit fabric and being arranged on the side opposite the main fabricstitches in respect of said weft yarns.
 8. A method of producing aknitted fabric, comprising the steps of: knitting a yarn to form a mainknit fabric with longitudinally extending rows of stitches, each beingassociated with a transversely extending course of stitches; feeding alongitudinally extending warp yarn along each vertical row of stitches,and binding the base of the stitch in each row by wrapping said warpyarn about same during the formation of the main knit fabric.